Bobolink

Bobolink, male

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Bobolink, female

Bobolink nest

Bobolink eggs

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A distinctive bird of open grasslands, the Bobolink is the only American bird that is black underneath and white on the back. This coloring makes the male stand out while he is performing his displays. After breeding he changes into a drab, camouflaged plumage to spend the rest of the year.

Description

• Medium-sized songbird.
• Short, pointed tail.
• Short conical bill.
• Breeding male black below, white on back.
• Female and nonbreeding male yellowish brown with bold black stripes on head and back.

• Size: 15-21 cm (6-8 in)
• Wingspan: 27 cm (11 in)
• Weight: 29-56 g (1.02-1.98 ounces)

Sex Differences

Breeding male with black front and white back. Female and nonbreeding male drab, striped, and straw-colored.

Sound

Song a rolling, bubbling, jangling series of notes; given in flight. Call a harsh "chek." Flight note a clear "pink."

Conservation Status

Declining over much of range. Earlier mowing of hay fields than in past leads to loss of nests. Shot as an agricultural pest on wintering grounds.

Other Names

Goglu des prés (French)
Tordo arrocero, Charlatán, Triste-pia (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Bobolink is an extraordinary migrant, traveling to south of the equator each autumn and making a round-trip of approximately 20,000 kilometers (12,500 mi). One female, known to be at least 9 years old, presumably made this trip annually, a total distance equal to traveling 4.5 times around the earth at the equator!
• The Bobolink is one of the few songbirds that undergoes two complete molts each year, completely changing its feathers on both the breeding and wintering grounds.

• When the male Bobolink grows in its new feathers on the wintering grounds they all have yellowish tips, and it still looks like a nonbreeding bird. Eventually the pale tips wear off of the feathers and reveal the striking black-and-white breeding colors.

• Although the Bobolink typically feeds during the day, in migration, while building fat reserves for its long overwater flight, it has been observed feeding in rice fields after dark on bright nights.

Sources used to construct this page:

Martin, S. G., and T. A. Gavin. 1995. Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). In The Birds of North America, No. 176 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.